Fleck shrugged. “We have human visitors too. And it’s far better to be over cautious, believe me.”
They went through another set of locked doors into a similar grey corridor, and Cam tried not to let the feeling of being enclosed get to him.
His nose wrinkled the further they walked until slowly, a familiar scent wafted in the air.
Sure enough, the guards brought them to a halt in front of a thick-looking steel door. A small hatch sat head height, and the lead guard slid it open. Whatever he saw in their clearly satisfied him because he unlocked the door and pulled it open wide.
Fleck motioned for Cam to go through, and steeling himself, he stepped inside the room.
The only furniture inside was a heavy-looking metal table and two chairs. Wes sat in one of them, hands cuffed together and resting on the table. Four guards stood with their backs to the walls, guns trained on Wes, and two security cameras blinked with red lights in opposite corners on the ceiling.
At first Cam thought it a little overkill, but then again, even without his beta power, Wes could probably tear all four guards apart before they managed to neutralise him.
All these precautions were most likely warranted.
Cam tried to put himself in the positions of the human guards, tried to imagine working in a prison full of inmates who could easily kill you with their bare hands and little effort. Yeah, he’d be pointing a gun at Wes too.
Fleck stood beside him. “You’re absolutely sure you want to speak to him alone?”
“Yes.” Cam flashed his teeth, letting his fangs slip out a touch to remind Fleck what he was. “I think I can handle him.”
Taking a quick step back, Fleck glanced over at Wes. “Don’t make me put you back in the cage.”
Wes looked as though he’d happily sink his teeth into Fleck given half a chance, but he simply replied with, “I won’t.”
“Good.” Fleck turned to Cam. “Two of the guards will remain outside the door. The room itself is soundproofed, so when you’re ready to come out, press that button.” He pointed behind him to a green button on the wall next to the door. “If there’s an emergency, hit that one.” This time he indicated a red button on the corner of the table. “Assuming you can, of course.”
Cam wanted to roll his eyes but nodded to show he understood.
Fleck then pointed to the clock on the wall. “You have thirty minutes. If we’ve not heard from you by then, someone will come to escort you out.” Pointing up at one of the cameras, he added, “We also reserve the right to halt the visit if we see something we don't like.”
“Of course.”
“Good luck. I hope you find the answers you’re looking for.”
“Thank you.” Cam watched as Fleck turned and left the room, followed by the guards.
Finally he turned back to Wes and smiled at him with all his teeth on show. “Hello, Wes.”
“Alpha Harley.” Wes inclined his head, the show of respect taking Cam by surprise for a second. He’d expected open hostility. “Thank you for coming to see me. Fuck knows I wouldn’t have done the same in your position.”
The chair opposite Wes scraped with an ear-splitting noise when Cam pulled it out, and they both winced.
Cam shrugged. “I didn’t really have much choice since members of my pack have been coming here for the last couple of weeks.” He went with brutal honesty, figuring there was no point beating about the bush. “I don’t trust either you or Newell to tell them the truth about events. Fleck said I should have received a letter from you, but nothing ever arrived. So… I want to know what your agenda is.”
Wes blew out a breath and glanced up at the ceiling. “Newell tore up that letter before I had a chance to give it to the guards.” He waved Cam away when he went to speak. “Doesn’t matter, you’re here now. And I suppose neither Davies nor the others want to tell you what we talk about?”
“They’re a little reluctant to disclose the conversations they have here, yes.”
“Why don’t you just order them to tell you. Use your alpha power.”
Cam smiled sadly and shook his head. He should’ve expected as much. “Because I don’t run my pack that way. Visiting here isn’t against pack law, and forcing them to tell me what they talk about won’t help us integrate as a pack. There’s no loyalty without respect.”
Wes regarded him curiously, head tipped slightly to one side as though Cam was a puzzle to be solved. “They could be plotting your downfall.”
“They could.”
“And yet you still won’t force them to talk?”
“No.”
Wes stared at him some more. “I don’t know whether that’s admirable or incredibly naive and short-sighted of you.”
Cam rolled his eyes. “Well, luckily I don’t give a fuck what you think about my decisions, so you don’t have to worry.”
“Fair enough.” He tugged at his restraints a little, as though testing their strength. Nothing gave despite Wes pulling on it, hard. “Why are you here then?”
“For one, you asked to see me. And two, I want you to tell me why you keep meeting with members of my pack. What do you possibly have to gain? I don’t believe for a second that it’s altruistic.”
Harsh laughter met his comment as Wes sat back in his chair, handcuffs clanging against the table. “And you’d be right. For the most part anyway.”
Cam scoffed. Most part. “Why have they been coming to see you?”
Wes grinned, sly. “What’s in it for me?”
Sitting back in his chair Cam grinned back at him. “Absolutely nothing.” Satisfaction curled in his chest as Wes’s grin faded. “I have no intention of offering you anything. As much as I want to know what crap you’ve been filling their heads with, I’m not prepared to barter for information. And it hasn’t gone unnoticed that they’ve suddenly stopped their visits to you.” Wes flinched. “Why is that?”
A low growl filled the room and claws clacked against the table as Wes fought to control his temper. He eyed Cam, expression a mixture of hate and resignation, as though telling Cam anything was the last thing he wanted to do, but he really didn’t have another choice. “He made me tell them not to come anymore,” Wes gritted out, as though the words caused him physical pain.
“Newell?”
Wes nodded.
“Why would you listen to a word he says? He’s not your alpha anymore, he has no control over you, and after what happened at the alpha council’s place, I would have thought you hated him.”
“I do.”
Cam frowned. Wes made no sense.
With a sigh, Wes lifted a hand, maybe to run through his hair or over his face, Cam had no idea, because the cuffs stopped his movements with a sharp yank. “Fuck,” he hissed, glaring at them. “I hate it in here. I hate these fucking things.” He shook the cuffs, making the metal strain against his skin. “Seeing those idiots once or twice a week was the fucking highlight of this whole place.” He met Cam’s gaze again, sly smile back in place, if not as certain as before. “Yes, I was less than polite about your pack and your leadership capabilities.” He shrugged, unapologetic. “But you put me in here. What the fuck do you expect?”
“Exactly that. And I didn’t put you in here, kidnapping and blackmail did that.”
Wes huffed and looked away. “Whatever.”
Cam shouldn’t care. He should just get up and leave since Wes didn’t seem to want to share anything of what he’d told Davies and the others. And Cam had meant what he said: no way was he offering a trade for information. Wes could rot in here for all he cared, Cam would find another way to reach his wayward pack members. But nevertheless, it niggled him. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad they’re not visiting you anymore, but I still don’t get why you did as Newell said? Why stop doing something that you obviously enjoyed?” At Cam’s expense, by the sounds of it. But the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to know.
Wes glared at him for so long, Cam thought he was never going t
o answer, and then suddenly his shoulders slumped and he let out a deep sigh—as though all the fight and defiance had been sucked right out of him. “You have no idea what it’s like in here.”
“It’s a prison. You live in a cell with limited outdoor recreation time and set meals. What else is there to know?”
Wes snarled and leaned forward. “They don’t care.” He spared a glance up at the cameras.
“Who? And about what?”
“The guards, the governor….” He gestured at the locked door. “As soon as we’re back in our cell blocks with all the security in place, they don’t care what goes on.”
“In what way?” Cam didn’t necessarily like Fleck, but he hadn’t come across as corrupt or malicious.
“One of the prison rules, agreed by fucking pack alphas and human government, was that as long as it doesn’t result in death or permanent physical damage, they don’t interfere with shifter disputes.” He sneered as he spoke. “Apparently it’s too dangerous for the guards to get involved, and we heal anyway, so no harm, no foul.”
Cam considered Wes’s words for a moment, and he had to say he thought it was a fair enough rule. Shifters were notorious for fighting amongst themselves, and even in the outside world, the human police left them to it to sort themselves out. Why should it be any different in here? Then it dawned on him what Wes was implying. “He threatened you?”
Glancing down at his hands, Wes muttered, “Yes.” Then he sighed and looked up, and for the first time Cam had ever known him, Wes looked vulnerable. Scared. “And not just threatened. He has a way of making it seem like we’re arguing, that it’s just your run of the mill shifter disagreement, but….”
“Have you told anyone?” This time Cam looked up at the cameras, wondering exactly who was watching them at this minute in time.
Wes rolled his eyes. “It’s my word against his. Who’s going to believe either of us after all the lies we told.”
Cam felt no empathy. Not even a little. Wes had willingly carried out every one of Newell’s orders without a second thought for who would get hurt. Or almost killed in Mark and Alec’s case. As far as Cam was concerned, you reap what you sow. Still, “But you’re on level footing with him now. Why let him push you around?”
“He’s….” Wes looked up at the ceiling, as if searching for answers. “I don’t know. He’s worse in here. I got bored with spouting the same old crap to Davies and his mates, started to actually enjoy their visits—there’s only so many ways I can tell them their new alpha is shite. And what did it matter anyway? It’s not like I’m getting out of here anytime soon, and keeping all that hate going is exhausting. I couldn’t be arsed with it anymore. So I stopped talking about you and your fucking pack.”
“And Newell didn’t like that?”
“No.” Wes shuddered. “And we share a fucking cell. He has all the time he wants to show me how much he didn’t like it.”
So Newell was still a nasty little bully. Cam couldn’t say he was surprised, but he hadn’t pegged Wes to be afraid of him. Maybe it was harder to forget that Newell had once been his alpha. Either way, this was none of Cam’s concern and didn’t do much to prepare him for his talk with Newell.
A quick glance at the clock told him he had just five minutes left before they came to get him. “Why did you ask to see me? And be honest this time. I’m not in the mood for any of your bollocks.”
Wes fixed him with his intense gaze, eyes pleading. “Get them to swap me to another cell. It won’t keep him off my back altogether, but it’ll limit his access. I can’t spend the next ten years with him torturing me whenever he feels like it. He’s insane.”
“This is a human-run prison. I have no sway here.”
“You’re now an alpha of one of the largest packs in London. They’ll listen to you, you know they will.”
They might, but why should he do anything to help Wes? After everything that had happened. “Give me one good reason why I should help you?”
“Because I know what Newell’s been saying to Davies and the others, and you need to know it too before you go and speak to him.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Six pairs of eyes stared back at Gareth.
Rachel was the only one who wasn’t looking at him with a shocked expression. With the other betas knowing what was going on between him and Cam, he’d kind of forgotten that it’d still come as a surprise to everyone else. Well, those that hadn’t heard the rumours.
Nathan opened his mouth, then shut it again. Then said, “I know you had the.…” He gestured at Gareth, and Gareth assumed he was referring to the potential bond scent. “But I thought those rumours were full of shit.”
Or those that didn’t believe them.
Gareth took a shaky breath. His living room was awash with scents right now and he struggled to get a read on everyone. “I’ve no idea what gossip has been doing the rounds, but Cam and I have bonded. That’s all you need to be concerned about.”
“Fuck me.” Nathan’s look of utter disbelief slowly turned into a smile, getting wider the more he looked at Gareth and the knot in his belly eased a little. “That’s… congratulations.”
“Thank you.”
The rest of his unit seemed to collect themselves, and a flurry of similar endearments followed Nathan’s.
He raised a hand to quiet them. “This is for your ears only though, for now. There’ll be a pack meeting tomorrow afternoon, but until then, I’d ask that you keep this to yourselves.” They all nodded, but of course Nathan had to be the one to mention the obvious.
“Are you planning on staying in your flat all day, because anyone within three feet of you will know.” He gestured to Gareth’s everything, and the thought of Cam marking him as taken in every way possible thrilled Gareth all over again.
It also exacerbated the ache he’d felt ever since they’d parted that morning, and he rubbed at his chest.
Before he could reply, Nathan barrelled on with, “And not to be rude or anything, but if you only bonded Saturday night, why aren’t you still together?” He shot a glance at Jared. “When me and Jared bonded, we didn’t leave our—”
“Nate,” Jared cut in softly, “I suspect Gareth’s well aware of the pull of a mating bond.” He nodded at where Gareth still rubbed at his chest.
“Oh, yeah, of course.” Nathan bit his lip, and Gareth wasn’t all that surprised when he asked. “Why aren’t you together though?”
Gareth sighed and tried not to think too much about the reason why. “He had somewhere to be this morning. I’ll see him when he gets back.”
He could see questions on the tip of everyone’s tongues, but they remained silent, waiting for him to say more. “I wish I could tell you everything, but I can’t yet.”
Luke glanced at Rachel, then back to Gareth.
“Oh, it’s nothing to do with me,” she added, then raised her eyebrows. “At least I don’t think so. I spoke to my father a moment ago, and—” She stopped, obviously realising that not everyone knew her real reasons for being there. “I think I’ll be here for a while longer.”
How much could Gareth tell them? This was his unit. He trusted everyone one them implicitly, but Cam was his alpha and his mate.
Of course, Nathan hit the nail on the head. “It’s to do with Davies and those other idiots, isn’t it?”
Gareth didn’t deny it, which was as good as a yes. But he’d broken no one’s confidence this way and told no lies. “You’ll find out everything in tomorrow’s pack meeting.” Needing to draw the meeting to a close, he added, “Obviously I won’t be in the office for the next couple of days.” He ignored the smirks that appeared around the room. “But if you need me, call me.”
“And if we can’t get hold of you? Because you know, you might be—” Luke flushed and waved a hand in front of him.
Gareth took pity on him. “Then call Alec if it can’t wait.”
They all stood to leave, and after another round of congratulations, his flat
was blessedly empty. Not that he wasn’t delighted with how well they’d all taken the news, but he was struggling to focus on anything while Cam was at the prison.
He checked his watch. They’d be there by now. Cam would probably be inside talking to—
Fuck.
He couldn’t stand the not knowing.
Slumping onto his sofa, Gareth reached for his phone. Cam wouldn’t answer right now, but Alec would. Deciding to send him a text, just in case, Gareth typed out, Has he gone in?
The reply came back almost immediately. Yeah. Went in about 30 mins ago. Quickly followed by, You okay?
Gareth stared at the message. He’d been about to reply that yeah, he was fine, but he wasn’t. He was anything but fine. Not really, no.
His phone rang, startling him, but Gareth wasn’t all that surprised to see who was calling.
“Alec,” he answered, a small smile appearing despite his anxious mood.
“How bad is it?”
Gareth hesitated before answering, trying to remember who Alec had taken with him.
“Don’t worry, I’m inside the car on my own.” Alec offered, clearly knowing exactly what Gareth was thinking. “Zac and Callum are outside cooling their heels. No one’s listening.”
“It’s bad,” Gareth grit out, and closed his eyes. “So fucking bad.” He rubbed at the ache just under his ribs, but it didn’t help. Nothing would until Cam was back within touching distance or at least in the same room. “How was Cam?” Alec would tell the truth no matter how painful it was to hear.
He heard him sigh on the other end, and Gareth’s stomach dropped. “He felt the separation, but his control is far better than yours. Although he might not be as patient as he usually is. I don’t think it’ll affect him too much while he’s in there.”
Gareth pushed down the flare of disappointment at Cam not being as affected as he was. Of course, he didn’t want it to mar his judgement while inside the prison. For fuck’s sake Gareth. “That’s good.” It came out strained rather than relieved.
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